Valentin headed to Mets. A minor league deal with incentives. Between his injuries, his complaining, and his ridiculous contract, I haven't had much good to say about John Valentin the past couple of years. But he was really good for a while. Until Nomar Garciaparra came along, he was the best-hitting Red Sox shortstop since Rico Petrocelli. He deservingly made the top 10 in the MVP voting in 1995, when he hit .298/.399/.533 with 102 RBI, 108 runs, and 20 steals in 25 attempts. He had a couple of decent years at 2B and 3B before his time ran out. He hit tremendously well in the postseason: .347/.412/.639 in 17 games (80 PA). He'll be missed. (Boston Globe)

John Valentin statistics. (Baseball-Reference.com)

Scott Burton: "Assuming Andy McPhail doesn't trade the rest of his young studs for Doug Brocail or someone like him, the Cubs [in 2003] could field a young team that the organization can build around for the next decade, much like the Braves and Yanks have built around their farm hands." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Joe Sheehan: "Redistributing revenue should work to correct the inescapable fact that the potential revenue of each team varies from market to market. A revenue-sharing plan that simply distributes money according to revenues generated is counterproductive and entirely unfair. The Phillies, playing in the largest one-team market in baseball, should NEVER receive money from teams like the Indians and Mariners, who have become cash cows in small markets." (Baseball Prospectus)

Report: Contraction still possible; cap will be pushed. "Major League Baseball is prepared to wait as late as Opening Day before abandoning contraction plans for 2002, Sandy Alderson told USA Today on Wednesday...'Once you start the season it would be a little tough, but realistically I'm not sure how much time is necessary,' Alderson told the newspaper." Baseball fever...catch it! (ESPN)

David Schoenfield on the Rangers. "This offseason's signings by Hart seem to fall into the same pattern as Doug Melvin's: a lot of high-risk propositions. It didn't pay off in 2000 and it didn't pay off in 2001. It will be an interesting season in Texas but something says Hicks hasn't learned his lesson." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Joe Sheehan on the White Sox. "Can Chicago's good players take a step up and be great? Chicago has a number of players in the 25-30 age group who have been fair-to-good players for a few years, guys like Ray Durham and Paul Konerko and Carlos Lee. If one or two of these guys has a big year, an MVP-caliber performance, the Sox won't be that far behind the Yankees, A's, and Rangers at the plate." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for January 3-19. "It's an interesting challenge for big league teams--or for the Rockies right now with Jack Cust in hand--to navigate through a deal with either the Blue Jays or the Athletics. When one of them is interested in something you have, you can reasonably expect that the other is interested as well. If you're as smart as they are, that can result in some really tight deals that border on challenge trades. If you aren't, you can wind up with something like [the Carlos Pena] deal, in which you convert one Grade-A prospect into a package of talent." (Baseball Prospectus)

Jay Jaffe on players named Jay, Part II. (Futility Infielder)

Greg Hall: "The Royals invited the media to a party shortly after the New Year to see how much the team has changed for 2002...Unfortunately, the Royals didn't change what most needs to be altered. There they were, not far behind me in the buffet line: Tony Muser and Allard Baird." (Pitch Weekly)

Correction to yesterday's Dodgers post: Derek Zumsteg has informed me that the Dodgers get their $11 million back if they don't sign Ishii. So they're obviously not in as tough a position as I thought. Thanks, Derek!

Interesting weblog: Twins Takes, just added to the ever-growing left-hand column.

Twins Takes essay on the Joe Mays signing (a mistake?).

Rany Jazayerli does some math: Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon, whom the Royals can't afford, will be earning a combined $18.42 million next year. Meanwhile, replaceable commodities Roberto Hernandez, Neifi Perez, Brent Mayne, Michael Tucker, and Chuck Knoblauch will be earning roughly $17.53 million. (Rany on the Royals, Baseball Prospectus)

Andy Latack on the Orioles. "With baseball now talking about relocating teams rather than contracting them, commissioner Bud Selig wants to move a franchise to Washington, D.C. -- an area the O's rely upon heavily for their fan base. Owner Peter Angelos will stall, but if the relocation goes down (and it could as soon as 2003), the O's better clean up their act. And fast. Because with only two playoff appearances in the last 18 seasons (1996 and '97), fans are restless. Now that Cal's gone, the only reason to come out to Camden Yards is if the Yanks are in town." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Ryan Wilkins reviews Rob Neyer's Feeding the Green Monster. (Baseball Junkie)

Ryan Wilkins examines the A's' recent transactions in the latest edition of What's Going on in Beane-Town. (Baseball Junkie)

Garces fed up, asks Sox for trade. He got real big on burgers and fries; now he's down to a smaller size, and looking for a long-term deal. (Boston Herald)

Agent: Ishii may not sign with Dodgers. He knows he has the Dodgers over a barrel, because if they don't sign Ishii, the $11 million they spent for exclusive rights to negotiate with him will have been wasted. Also, the team can't afford another public relations setback after losing Chan Ho Park and trading Gary Sheffield. Prediction: They'll cave, and regret it. (Boston Globe)

Overhauled Mets get Burnitz in 3-team swap. Glendon Rusch goes to the Brewers; Todd Zeile goes to the Rockies. (ESPN)

Rob Neyer says the trade could help all three teams. (ESPN)

Matt Szefc on the Mets. "What went wrong? Whew. This is gonna be a long one." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Rany Jazayerli on the Padres: "Kevin Towers has built a team along the Oakland model, and he's about to reap the same harvest that Billy Beane has in Oakland. The Padres may have been the forgotten team in their division, but the NL West is about to find out that no team can afford to forget about them anymore." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Duquette likely gone; Beane reportedly tops wish list. Cool. (ESPN)

Here's the corrected version of the Expos Hot Stove Heater, in which we learn that they "Have won as many World Series since 1918 as the Red Sox and Cubs combined (0)." Hey, how come no one ever picks on the White Sox? They haven't won a World Series since 1917. Since they threw the 1919 Series, they've only been back once. Even the Red Sox and Cubs have made multiple trips to the World Series since then. (ESPN)

Lots of players have been signing extensions or one-year deals with their current teams...

Rolen avoids arbitration, signs $8.6M deal with the Phillies. (ESPN)

No arbitration: Wood, Cubs agree on one-year deal. (ESPN)

Three more years: Boone stays with Mariners. "I can't say I'm going to drive in 140 or 150 runs every year. I don't think anybody in the world can say that. But I think I can maintain this level." Norm Cash probably thought the same thing in 1961. (ESPN)

Oakland signs Dye through 2004 season. Three years, $32 million. (ESPN)

Twins' Mays signs four-year extension worth $20M. (ESPN)

David Schoenfield on the Expos. Random Expos Fact #33: "Have won as many playoff series since 1918 as the Red Sox (1)." This statement was true between 1981 and 1986, so maybe Schoenfield wrote it then. The Red Sox won the 1975 ALCS, 1986 ALCS, and 1999 ALDS. (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Jay Jaffe is compiling capsule histories of all the major leaguers, past and present, named Jay. Today: The pitchers. (Futility Infielder)

Just for fun, I'd like to steal Jay's idea, on a less ambitious scale. Here's an all-Pete team:

c - Pete Daley
1b - Pete O'Brien
2b - Pete Coscarart
ss - Pete Runnels
3b - Pete Ward
lf - Pete Fox
cf - Pete Reiser
rf - Pete Rose
dh - Pete Incaviglia
sp - Pete Alexander
sp - Pete Harnisch
sp - Pete Schourek
sp - Pete Vuckovich
sp - Pete Donohue
rp - Pete Mikkelsen
rp - Pete Richert

They wouldn't beat the Willies or the Georges (see The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract), but they'd be pretty good, if the pitching ace can keep his drinking under control, the right fielder can keep his gambling under control, and the center fielder can refrain from running into walls. The only weak player is Daley, who was a backup catcher for the A's and Red Sox in the 50's and 60's. Runnels was primarily a first baseman and second baseman, but he was a shortstop early in his career.
If I were to stretch the standard to include Pedros, I could add Pedro Martinez, Pedro Guerrero, Pedro Borbon the elder, Pedro Ramos, and Pedro Astacio. Still no decent catcher, but what a pitching staff, and what a cast of characters.
(Credit to baseball-reference.com for player stats and search capabilities.)

Sheffield traded to Braves for Jordan, pitcher Perez. The Braves needed hitting, and they got one of the best hitters in baseball. (ESPN)

John Hassan on the Red Sox. "What went wrong: How much time do you have?" (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Eric Adelson on the Tigers. "What went wrong: How much time you got?" Keep your eyes on your own paper, Eric. (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Gary Huckabay: "The Dodgers are not going to be a good team in 2002. This is an old team with persistent and serious offensive holes...Fortunately for the Dodgers, they don't need to be a particularly good team to compete in the NL West in 2002." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Rangers send 1B Pena to A's for lefty Ramos. A steal for the A's. (ESPN)

BONDS REMAINS A GIANT: Star's 5-year, $90 million deal is good for everyone. "This is the sort of thing that could give baseball a good name. Cooler heads prevailing? A superstar staying put? The fans being served? Two sides, agreeing to agree? Especially when one of those sides is Scott Boras? A-Rod, we're not in Texas anymore." (San Jose Mercury News)

Scott Burton on the Pirates. "Schmidt and Ritchie are just the kind of middle-of-the-road veterans that Pittsburgh can't afford to be doling out big bucks for. But then Littlefield signed 33-year-old closer Mike Williams, whom he traded to the Astros in July, to a two-year, $7 million deal this offseason. Of what particular use is a closer on a team that won't break .500 the next two seasons?" (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Congratulations to Keith Law, who is leaving the Baseball Prospectus to join the Toronto front office.

Rob Neyer on the Yankees. "Nine positions in the lineup, and only four will be occupied in 2002 by the same players who occupied them in 2001. How odd is this? Here's a look at the other 11 Yankee teams that lost a World Series ..." (Hot Stove Heaters, ESPN)

Gonzalez agrees to return to Rangers. 2 years, 24 million. (ESPN)

David Schoenfield: "In the final analysis, 1,000 runs looks possible for this lineup. But it also looks like the Rangers will need even more than that if they want to win the West." (ESPN)

Mayor Bloomberg nixes New York stadium deals. Selig will now threaten to contract the Yankees and Mets in 2003. (ESPN)

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for December 23 - January 2. "[A]fter years of berating the Jays for lost opportunities, it's a bit frightening to think that they might finally be shaping up into the kind of organization that thinks aggressively in terms of its own self-improvement. I think 2003 is looking like a year where the Jays might start making some real noise, beyond the 80-plus wins I'm beginning to expect this year." (Baseball Prospectus)

ESPN.com has begun publishing Hot Stove Heaters (2001 summaries and 2002 outlooks, team by team). So far:

David Schoenfield on the Astros;
Matt Szefc (who ought to write a Kent Hrbek biography) on the Phillies;
Rob Neyer on the Devil Rays;
Graham Hays on the Rockies;
John Sickels on the Indians;
Szefc on the Brewers;
Andy Latack on the Angels.

Bill Simmons: "Brian Billick jinxed [the Ravens] for the season by agreeing to HBO's "Hard Knocks" concept. Have those documentaries or follow-a-team-for-a-season book projects ever not jinxed the team-person for the season?...Of course, there's an even better example from this year that I'm afraid to mention." (ESPN)

Rob Neyer's Feeding the Green Monster is available here.

Chris Kahrl's Transaction Analysis for December 10-25. "The real achievement of the Everett deal is that John Hart identified a need even uglier than carrying and potentially coddling Everett, which was that Darren Oliver sucks money and games into a vortex of inescapable losingdom. If the Rangers' rotation was going to be improved, Oliver needed deleting." (Baseball Prospectus)

The naysayers are right: The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is full of flaws. I noticed a bunch of flaws on Christmas Eve, when I stayed up reading it until 3:30 am. On Christmas night, when I stayed up reading it until 2:30 am, I noticed more flaws. Over the past week, I've continued to notice flaws, but at a slower rate, possibly because I haven't gotten any sleep.